Tata-Backed Titan To Buy Dubai Jeweler For $282 Million

A unit of Titan Company—an Indian jewelry retailer backed by the Tata Group—has agreed to buy a 67% stake of Dubai-based Damas Jewellery for 1.038 billion dirhams ($282 million).

Titan Holdings International will buy the Damas stake from Qatar-based Mannai Corp.and fund the acquisition through a combination of debt and internal cash, according to a statement released on Monday. It plans to purchase the rest of the Dubai-based jeweller by the end of 2029.

“With the Damas acquisition, Titan Company is stepping out from its diaspora focus into other nationalities and ethnicities,” C.K. Venkataraman, managing director of Titan said in the statement. After scaling up its retail network across the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the U.S., Titan aims to expand globally, he added.

Upon completion of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, Titan will gain access to 146 Damas stores across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—markets which the company expects robust demand for jewelry. Titan entered the GCC market in 2020 with the opening of its first Tanishq store in Dubai.

Founded in 1987, Titan is a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corp., an Indian state-owned agency. In addition to jewelry, Titan also sells watches, eyewear, fragrances, women’s bags, and Indian dresswear through stores in more than 400 cities across India.

Tata Group is India’s oldest conglomerate that the late Ratan Tata (who passed away in October) transformed into an industrial powerhouse with interests in airlines, automotive, financial services, media, telecommunications, technology and steel manufacturing. Under his two-decade leadership, he made global acquisitions including that of British steelmaker Corus Group in 2007 and luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover the following year.